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36 J. Res. Crime & Delinquency 3 (1999)

handle is hein.journals/jrcd36 and id is 1 raw text is: DEPARTING EDITOR'S NOTE JAMES 0. FINCKENAUER When I decided more than three years ago to become the editor of the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency (JRCD), I did so for several reasons. Among them was the chance to be a player in shaping the research and publication process while working to preserve the rigor, the integrity, and the credibility of that process. Yet, another was a more personal and selfish reason, namely, to learn as much as I could about that process and about the current research agenda in this field. In those respects, these past three years have been an enormously rewarding learning experience for me. As the editor of a prestigious journal such as JRCD-a journal that attracts a large number of manuscripts on a wide range of crime and criminal justice issues-one is forced to stretch and extend one's intellectual reach. Weighing an author's work and judging it against the criticisms of knowledgeable reviewers is sometimes a gut-wrenching, soul-searching struggle. Would this work be a contribution to the literature? Are the reviewers' comments valid, or are they biased? Can the author really respond to the criticisms put forth? What to do when equally well-qualified reviewers come to completely oppo- site conclusions about a manuscript? It is the editor, along with the associate editors, who must decide the fate of a manuscript that is, for example, called by one reviewer outstanding or a seminal piece and simultaneously by another reviewer poor and deserving of rejection. There is no clear way to proceed in this instance. Although manuscripts undeniably should be cho- sen for publication on merit, just what is meritorious or more meritorious is not always obvious. As I have said in previous editorial comments, the quality ofjournals such as JRCD is dependent on the hard work of independent and anonymous reviewers. I have tried during my tenure as editor to match reviewers care- fully to the research subject of the manuscripts to be reviewed, to expand the pool of reviewers beyond the usual suspects, not to go to the same reviewer too often, and, most important, not to routinely substitute my judgment for theirs. The latter point deserves a little more explanation. If an editor blindly follows the recommendations of reviewers, there is no need for an editor or at least for a real editor. On the other hand, if an editor JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN CRIME AND DELINQUENCY, Vol. 36 No. 1, February 1999 3-4 @ 1999 Sage Publications, Inc. 3 from the SAGE Social Science Collections. All Rights Reserved.

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